Microsoft Corp. on Monday will announce that it has settled another outstanding lawsuit: It will make a one-time payment of $440 million to multimedia antipiracy company InterTrust Technologies Corp. for a comprehensive license to InterTrust's patent portfolio as part of an agreement that also resolves all outstanding litigation between the two companies.

In addition, the agreement allows Microsoft to accelerate the development and promotion of digital rights management solutions. As part of the agreement, InterTrust, of Santa Clara, California, also receives rights under Microsoft patents to design and publish InterTrust reference technology specifications related to DRM (digital rights management) and security.

Marshall Phelps, deputy general counsel and corporate vice president of intellectual property at Microsoft, said in a statement, seen by eWEEK on Sunday night, that the licensing of InterTrust's patent portfolio "reaffirms Microsoft's commitment to the importance of intellectual property rights as well as our commitment to our customers to stand behind our products in these emerging technology areas.

"One of our goals with this and our broader intellectual property (IP) licensing program is to provide peace of mind for our customers and partners by letting them know that patent licensing is our responsibility," he said.

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About the Author

Peter Galli has been a financial/technology reporter for 12 years at leading publications in South Africa, the UK and the US. He has been Investment Editor of South Africa's Business Day Newspaper, the sister publication of the Financial Times of London.
He was also Group Financial Communications Manager for First National Bank, the second large... See Full Bio

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